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Early Life
Pierre Maurice Marie Duhem was a Frenchman born in Paris on June 9, 1861. He belonged to a wealthy and religious family, and his education was their top priority. Duhem attended the Catholic School, College Stanislas, for a decade and then pursued higher education at Ecole Normale Superieure. He excelled in the Science Section and became the top student in his class. After obtaining Licenses in Math and Physics, he went on to earn his Doctorate. -
Doctorate
While he was only a third-year student, Duhem presented a thesis in physics for his doctorate. The thesis focused on thermodynamic potential, exploring its various applications and implications. It was a groundbreaking work that impressed many of his peers and set the stage for his future contributions to the field. Duhem's ability to conduct such advanced research at such a young age was a testament to his intelligence and dedication to pursuing knowledge. -
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General Relativity
In 1914, Pierre commented that Einstein's relativity theory "has turned physics into a real chaos where logic loses its way and common-sense runs away frightened." In a book he published in 1915 called La Science Allemande, Pierre argued strongly against relativity. Pierre stated that the theory of relativity "overthrew all the doctrines in which he has spoken of space, of time, of movement, all the theories of mechanics and physics." -
The Duhem Thesis
His expertise in the realm of science led him to assert that scientific hypotheses cannot make predictions independently but instead rely on underlying assumptions. This fundamental concept, famously known as the Duhem-Quine Thesis, gained significant traction posthumously in the 1950s and has remained relevant even in contemporary times. -
Citations
Ariew, Roger, "Pierre Duhem", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2018 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2018/entries/duhem/.
Duhem, Pierre Maurice Marie, et al. To Save the Phenomena: an Essay on the Idea of Physical Theory from Plato to Galileo. The University of Chicago Press, 2015. “Pierre Duhem - Biography.” Maths History, mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Duhem/. Accessed 22 July 2023. -
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